Beyond the Memories
by Antares28
Summary: Wesley ends up in limbo after he dies and travels through the years of his life via his memories. Slightly AU, WesFred at the end. Rated to be sure. First Angel fic, be kind!


Disclaimer: I don't own Angel. If I did, I'd fight to the death to make sure it wasn't cancelled! Joking! This is my very first Angel ficcy, so please be nice. It's kinda AU too! I just love Fred and Wesley!  
  
Chapter 1  
Wesley opened his eyes to find that he was in a dark place, as though his sight had vanished. A dim light shone on him only. Complete and utter silence surrounded him. The last thing Wesley could remember was mortal pain and hearing Cyvus Vail's evil rasping laugh. Illyria had rushed to his side out of concern for him. As a last wish, Illyria had changed into Fred and cried over him. The last thing Wesley had seen before he'd passed away was a friendly face. The face of a loved one. A forgotten hero. Just what Wesley expected to be.  
Walking blindly through the darkness, Wesley felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked through the dim light to see that his wound was still there, but no longer bleeding. The pain, however, hadn't stopped. Wind howled in the darkness, stinging Wesley's wound even more.  
"Wesley," a distant voice said in the wind. Wes turned abruptly to find the source of the voice. It sounded familiar, slightly Texan.  
"Fred?" he called out in the distance. No answer. Wesley continued to walk. Coming upon a door, Wesley pulled it open to reveal his childhood home. He stared at the room, his bedroom. A boy about seven years old hurried into the room, a piece of paper in his hand. Wesley stared in awe at his seven year old self. Now that he was watching this moment, he could remember it clearly. His seven- year- old self didn't seem to notice his adult self standing there in the room. A dead bird lay on the windowsill of little Wesley's window. Younger Wesley began to read from the piece of paper. The bird was beginning to glow.  
"_Wesley_," a voice said. Adult Wes turned to see his bedroom door open and his father walk in. Younger Wes tried to hide the paper from his father.  
"_What are you doing with my scroll?"_ his father asked. Younger Wes looked sheepishly at the floor.  
"_You know you are to stay out of my library. You're grounded_," Wesley's father said, snatching the scroll from his son and walking out of the room. Younger Wes just stared, defeated, at the dead bird.  
Wesley watched as the memory dissolved, leaving him once again in the darkness. The wind returned, whistling through the dark place. Again, he heard the voice whisper his name.  
"Wesley," it said. He stared into the darkness, trying to locate the voice.  
Wesley walked on and came to another door, wondering what was behind there, he pulled it open to reveal something rather strange. He was in the library of the Watcher's Academy.  
"Oh great," Wesley said. He turned to go back out the door, but it had vanished. No one seemed to notice him, so he walked on in. It wasn't long before he found his teenage self, sitting alone at a table in the library, reading a book. Wesley watched as two goof off students that tortured Wesley to no end in school walked up to him and snatched his book away from him.  
"_Hey there Mr. Head Boy_!" one of the guys said.  
"_Do you two mind_?" Teen Wesley asked.  
"_What're you going to do? Write us up?"_ the other guy asked. "_ Brownnoser_."  
_ "Give me my book back,"_ Teen Wesley said.  
_"Come and get it, Pryce,"_ the guy said, holding it out of Wes's reach. Wesley winced, watching this memory. It began to dissolve into black again, leaving Wesley resenting his teenage years even more. Walking on, he searched for more doors, hopeful that he'd find the one to bring him some answers. He came across another one and pulled it open.  
Wesley found himself standing in the middle of an LA street. He could hear sirens in the distance and looked around. He turned to see a guy on a motorcycle coming right at him. Wesley didn't have time to jump out of the way as the motorcycle and the guy went right through him. He gasped in amazement and stared after the guy. The motorcycle looked awfully familiar and Wesley could vaguely remember this moment. Of course! It was when he had first arrived in LA, before he met up with Angel and Cordelia. He had appointed himself a rogue demon hunter and traveled to LA in search of a particular demon. He could remember what a bumbling fool he was then, and forced a laugh at it. Wes quickly disappeared from where he was and reappeared in the apartment Past Angel stood in the doorway of. Past Angel didn't seem to see him standing there, but he ducked behind a doorway just in case. He knew what was going to happen next. Past Angel was pushed into the apartment from behind and turned to find someone pointing a crossbow at him. The Wesley of that time stepped out of the darkness, crossbow in the air.  
"_Hello Angel_," he said. Past Angel stuck his hands in his pockets.  
"_Wesley,"_ was all he said.  
"_I wager you thought you'd never see me again_," Past Wesley said with false bravado.  
"_To tell you the truth I hadn't given it much thought one way or another_," Past Angel said. "_What are you-."_  
_"Hup-up-up! I'm the one asking the questions here,"_ Past Wesley said. " _I think it only fair to warn you. Any sudden movements and I'd be forced to-."  
_ Past Wesley was cut off by Past Angel's casual batting of the crossbow. Past Wes looked at the floor.  
"_Right. You had a question_?" he asked.  
"_Interesting look for you. Motorcycle. The Watchers Council trying out a new image?"_ Past Angel asked, surveying Past Wesley's getup. Past Wesley's next words were drowned out as the memory dissolved, leaving Wesley in the dark again.  
The next door wasn't far off. Wesley opened that and found himself in a strange forest. He searched his mind for the name of the place, but couldn't find it. Treading deeper into the forest, Wesley could see a group of rebels at their camp. Looking off into the other direction, he saw Past Angel and Past Fred hiding behind rocks.  
"Pylea," Wesley realized. He watched as himself and Past Gunn walked up to Past Angel and Past Fred. Walking closer, Wesley listened in on the familiar yet strange conversation. "_She's Fred. She_ _does that too_," Past Angel was saying. "_Fred. Winifred? The girl from Cordy's vision?"_ Past Wesley asked. "_Check the perimeter! The east groves!"_ the rebel Sasha said to some other rebels. The rebels quickly dispersed. "_These are my friends, Wesley, Gunn_," Past Angel said to Past Fred. "_Hiya,"_ Fred said, smiling. "_These, ah, those were the rebels_," Past Wesley said. "_We've joined_ _forces."_ _"They made Wes their general_," Past Gunn said. "_But you're here now. Ah, if you want_ _to...I mean...you're much better at..." _Past Wes said to Past Angel. "_No Wes, I-I can't...You know_ _what happens to me_," Past Angel said. "_I-I'm sorry...ashamed of what I did to you_." "_It's_ _kind of a crazy place here_," Past Gunn said. "_The sooner we all get out of here, the better."_ "_Fred here might be able to help us with that. She knows a lot about portals_," Past Angel said. _"Not a lot," _Past Fred said. "_The trionic speechcraft formulation/modification has to alter the dynamic reality sphere. Lutzbalm predicted it at Zurig in '89, laughed him right off the stage. All though, this slavery and degradation is no laughing matter. It's no crug grain and kalla berry_ _breakfast all right."_ Past Fred laughed at this. Past Wes and Past Gunn looked at Past Angel. _"She's been here awhile_," Past Angel explained. Wesley could only focus on Fred, how scared she had been. How beautiful she was, despite the rags she was wearing and the dirt on her face.  
The memory began to slowly disappear. The wind whipped through the darkness again. Wesley could hear the voice whisper his name yet again. He came to another door. Wary of what he might find behind the door, he hesitantly opened it to reveal a hospital room. Wesley remembered this. He had kidnapped Angel's son Connor with the intention to save him from a false prophecy regarding Angel killing his son. Instead, it had turned disastrous, leaving Connor in a hell dimension and Wesley with his throat slit. Walking over to the bed, Wesley could see himself lying there, pondering all that had happened recently. There was a knock at the open door and both Wesleys turned to look at the door. Past Fred stood there, a box of his things under her arm. She walked over to the bed, noticing only the Wesley of that time. She smiled.  
"_Hi Wesley. How are you feeling?_" she asked. Unable to speak, Past Wesley made a motion towards his throat. Past Fred set the box down on a chair.  
"_Oh, it's not permanent though_," she said. "_I brought some of your stuff from the office. Things there...well things. Gunn and I found your notes about- the baby, the prophecy. You took him away because you thought Angel was gonna kill him. You were trying to protect them. Both of them. I just wanted you to know I understand that. And I also wanted to say, I thought what Angel tried to do to you was wrong, and I'm sorry. But he was right to blame you, Wesley. You should have come to us. You should have trusted us instead of going to Holtz behind our back. You're supposed to be our friend and you didn't even...if Angel sees you again, he'll kill you Wesley. This time for real. Don't come back to the hotel. Ever."  
_ Past Fred turned to leave, but spoke once more before leaving. She wouldn't face Past Wes.  
_"The prophecy was false. Angel was never gonna hurt Connor. It was all for nothing_," she said. Both Wesleys watched her leave. The memory dissolved and Wes was engulfed by the darkness yet again. He approached one last door and, feeling that there weren't many memories that could be worse than the last, emotionlessly pulled it open. He was greatly surprised by this memory, being that it was one of his better ones. He was in his old office at Wolfram and Hart. Fred was standing in front of the Wesley of that time. Wesley watched this memory, clearly treasuring this one most.  
"_You're just gonna go, aren't you_?" she asked him.  
"_Fred-,"_ Past Wesley said.  
"_Haven't you been...sensing anything lately...about me...coming from me?" _Past Fred asked.  
"_Uh_..." Past Wesley said.  
"_Didn't it occur to you that...something might have changed? That-I'm looking at you in_ _a different-oh screw it_," Past Fred said. She kissed Past Wesley. When they separated, Past Wes seemed surprised.  
"_Um..."_ he said.  
"_That was a signal. OK? Is that...clear enough for you?" _Past Fred asked.  
_"Not even close,"_ Past Wesley said, kissing her passionately. Wesley smiled at this memory, loving it. It began to fade, but instead of returning to the darkness, Wesley found himself in a field with sunshine shining down on him. He looked around, surprised. Looking at his wound, Wesley could see that it had completely healed.  
"What is going on here?" he asked himself.  
"Wesley," a voice called out. Wes turned to see Fred sitting on a swing hanging from one of the trees about ten feet away. He hurried over to her.  
"Fred, is it really you?" he asked in spite of himself.  
"Of course!" Fred said, getting off the swing and standing in front of Wesley.  
"Where is here?" Wesley asked.  
"The afterlife. While you were in limbo, you got to see some of your past. Now, you can live your future. Your mortal life has ended, but you will now live on in the afterlife," Fred told him. Wesley stared at her for a moment before they kissed passionately. Wesley didn't care where he was anymore. All that mattered was that he was with Fred at last. They just stood in the grass, kissing, as the cool breeze swept through the life that Wesley had wanted all along.  
Back in the darkness, Gunn opened his eyes and looked around in the dim light illuminating only him.  
"Where am I?" he asked out loud...

THE END


End file.
